Thursday, March 17, 2011

ABCs...

I stole this from the Lovely KB over at The C(K)Lamb Roll. :) Thanks KB!

Just a little St. Patty's Day fun that has absolutely nothing to do with St. Patty's Day.


Age: 33. Sometimes I forget and have to think about it. Isn't that sad?
Bed Size: King. Love it.
Chore you dislike: Vacuuming and ironing. Luckily my husband enjoys both of these.
Dogs: Boomer was my childhood dog. He was the best. Lola is my mom's dog and she's pretty cool too.
Essential part of your day: Snuggling with Brody
Favorite color: prob pink. or maybe navy.
Gold or silver: Silver, for sure.
Height: 5’3″
Instruments you play(ed): I played the violin in elementary school. Failed. Hated it.
Job title: Academic Advisor/Orientation Coordinator
Kids: 1, Brody, 4 months old.
Live: San Jose, CA
Mom’s name: Sue Ellen
Nicknames: I really haven't had many. Not much you can do with Sara. LB calls me ST or swout (back in the day). Kerry calls me Shibbs or Shibby. Dee and Cari call me Sar. Joe and I call each other Marty.
Overnight hospital stays: The first time I ever had to stay in the hospital was when I had Brody. My send was 6 weeks later for my gallbladder. 2 hospital stay in my entire life, all withing 6 weeks. Oh and they were two different hospitals.
Pet peeves: chronic complainers/negative nellys (good one, KB), people who drive really slow even though everyone else is going much faster, people who make it seem as though their work lives are so stressful, though you never actually see them doing anything. 
Quote from a movie: “You said three casinos?"- Ocean's 11. Best.Movie.Ever.
Righty or Lefty: righty
Siblings: One older brother, Jason.
Time you wake up: During the week, I usually get up at 6. On days that Joe takes Brody to daycare or is at home with him, it's 6:45. The latest I'll usually sleep on the weekends, is 8 or 8:30 and that's if Joe has already gotten up with Brody.
Underwear: In the words of my good friend Erin "everyone loves a full panty".
Vegetables you don’t like: zucchini
X-rays: once, when I thought I broke my finger. And dental xrays of course.
Yummy food you make: mini meatloaves. mmmm.
Zoo. Favorite zoo animal: hmmm, probably the monkeys or penguins.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Going Back To Work...

I went back to work shortly after Brody turned 3 months old. The adjustment was a lot easier than I thought it would be, but that's because I think I expected the worst. I wasnt excited about going back to work and leaving my little man, so I didn't think about it a lot. I had child care in place, but other than that I didn't really focus on maternity leave coming to an end.

I really couldnt be happier with how thigs have worked out. Our child care set up is great. He's with Joe on Mondays (we call them Daddy Mondays), my mother in law on Tuesdays and with Miss Pat (in-home day care) on Wednesdays through Fridays. It's a really nice balance actually. He gets to be at our house on Mondays and Tuesdays, which is great for me because I get to just leave the house and go straight to work. It's also nice for him to be in his own environment. He's a baby that likes to sleep in, so that's a bonus for him too. I have left many mornings where he hasn't woken up yet. It's sad that I don't get to love all over him, but I love peeking in over the crib at him sleeping peacefully.

I love Miss Pat. She came highly recommended by my Mom's neighbor, who's little girl (E is 2 1/2) has been going to Miss pat since she was a few months old. They have the cutest relationship. I was worried that I was going to intrude on this and forever scar E for taking away her Pat, but it seems to be going well. I think E is coming around to liking Brody. Yesterday, she kissed Brody on the head and said "bye sweetheart" as we were leaving.

Pat is wonderful. You can just tell that she loves Brody already. She has so much experience with kids and always has the most helpful tips to share with us. She can make Brody smile just by looking at him. I love that he loves her. I hope we can continue taking Brody to Miss Pat for a long time.

Of course Brody loves being with his Daddy and his Nana too. Those are great times that they both get to have with Brody. I love coming home at the end of the day to hear how much fun they've each had with him and just how cute and wonderful he was all day.

There have definitely been some adjustments with going back to work. I get up almost an hour earlier in the morning, but I arrive to work at least a half an hour later than I used to. It's not just get up, get ready and go anymore. It's actually kind of nice to have so much interaction with Brody, Joe, and/or Peg and Pat in the mornings, but they can be hectic. Time flies with a baby. The evenings are the same way. When I pick B up from Miss Pat's, we don't get home until 6pm at the earliest. He often gets tired and hungry shortly thereafter, so we quickly try to eat and clean up before giving him a bath and a bottle. I love evening with my husband and baby, but I wish I had more time to play with Brody and relax with Joe. I'm still trying to figure out the best schedule for all of us to make the most of our evenings together. It actually looks like the time change may help us a little bit with keeping him awake an hour longer. Hopefully it stays that way!
I treasure my weekends more than ever. Saturdays are family day. Joe doesn't work, so it's our one day a week to spend together, just the three of us. I love doing nothing, or doing everything. We usually don't make any plans and just let the day unfold. Sunday's are equally as fun, since I get Brody all to myself. I usually make a lunch date with a friend or spend the afternoon with my mom. Weekends are just like maternity leave except more friends/family aren't working! Hooray!

Overall, I feel very lucky to have the set up that I do for our family. As much as I didn't want to return to work, it's something I had to do for our family. I am thankful that I enjoy my job and the people that I work with. I'm also beyond happy with our child care situation. A happy mama equals a happy baby and vice versa. I can honestly say that although it's been an adjustment, everyone is very happy.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

4 months

I've finally caught up! Brody is four months old, as of last Sunday.

Brody loves to chew on his hands.


How big is Brody? We had B's 4 month well visit on Monday and he weighed 16 lbs, 2 oz. and measured 24.75 inches. He's in the 75th percentile for weight, 50th for height and 80th for head size. He's my little chunky monkey.

Almost all of his clothes are now 3-6 months with the exception of some 6-12 month stuff from Old Navy. He's quickly growing out of the 3-6 though. At the end of last summer, Joe and I bought a handful of sale stuff that he could wear this summer. However, we estimated that he'd be in 6-9 month when the weather got warm. He's quickly Approaching that size, so it better get a lot warm real fast, or he better stop growing so quickly. I prefer the former.
He's officially in size 2 pampers diapers. We made the switch a week or so ago, and I actually think it was a little overdue.

Teeth? Still no teeth. The doctor checked and said it he will probably start teething at around 7 months.

What's he eating?
B is now eating/drinking 5 oz, every 3 hours. We upped his ounces to 5 and even tried 6, but that was too much for him to have consistently. We give him 6 oz at bedtime, but during the day, he was spitting it up. We're also incorporate some juice to help keep that little soy baby regular. The soy can be constipating, so the juice will offset that. He's not a huge fan of the juice, but we can usually get him to take a sip or two a few times a day. I've tried both prune and pear juice. We talked to the doctor about solid, so we'll try out some rice cereal this weekend.

Sleep?
He's still pretty inconsistent with his sleep. Sometimes he'll go down right away and other times he wakes up every half an hour for the first few hours. He seems to be having nightmares (is that possible?) where he's crying in his sleep and then wakes himself up, pretty upset. The other nights, he's a champ. Falls asleep and will wake up only once to eat. Those nights are obviously the best.

Personality:
I'm sure every parent thinks their child has the best personality. Bordy is just so much fun and super easy going. Even if he's crying in his crib, as soon as he sees you, he starts to smile. he'll smile at strangers and even himself in the mirror now. He laughed for the first time at the little girl at day care. She was dancing and jumping around and he thought it was funny. He started to giggle more throughout the month, and will now laugh when we blow raspberries on his belly. He's super interested in anything that's around him. He looks all over when we're in a new place, checking out his surroundings. He's very curious.

New Developments/Adventures:
Brody loves his hands! They are constantly in his mouth. If you take one hand out of his mouth, the other goes right in. He is very curious about textures too. His bedroom walls have a roughness to them and he loves to rub his hands over the wall when I change him. Also, when we lay him in his crib, he immediately reaches out to rub the bumper with his fingers. Not texture there, but he loves to touch it. He's been more interested in toys and loves having something in each hand. I've attached toys to his car seat and he often has a hold of one in each hand. Brody has a lovey that's a monkey and he loves him. We named him Marvin. It's actually amazing to see how much calmer he gets when we give him Marvin. He always holds him close to his face. If we let him, he'd sleep with Marvin over his face. Obviously, because of this, he does not sleep with Marvin.


Brody has started rubbing his eyes when he's tired. I think it's the cutest thing. Usually it means he's beyond tired, but it's still nice to have a sign as to what he needs.

Brody started daycare, when I returned to work this last month. I plan to do a post all about returning to work. I'll just say that everything with our child care is working out great and I'm a very happy momma.

Brody is a chatterbox. He has lots and lots to talk about. He will just sit there and babble. He often wakes up and just starts talking to himself and he's always talking to himself in the car. It's the cutest thing. I have to hold myself back from taking videos of him doing this. I just think it's so entertaining. Most recently, he's learned to make high pitch squealing noises. He sounds like a dolphin. It's still cute.


A rather new development, just within the last week or so, is that Brody gets distracted very easily when he's having a bottle. If Joe walks by and says something or even sits out of sight and talks, Brody immediately stops eating and looks around for him. He likes to be part of the conversation as well. He prefers to sit near us when we're having dinner, and doesn't like if we both walk into the other room without him.

The doctor said that the most changes occur between the 2nd and 4th month and I completely agree. Brody has not only grown a lot, but he's learned so many new things. It seems like there's something new everyday. He's such a fun little boy. I cant wait to see what he has for us next month!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Pot sticker Soup

I'm posting a recipe! This is huge for me. I never cook anything exciting, and rarely have any recipes worth sharing. I give full credit to my mother in law for this soup. I feel in love the first time I had it and now it's a staple in our household. It's super easy and super delish. You should give it a try.

Ingredients:
Frozen Chicken and Vegetable Pot stickers (as many as you want to eat!)
1 T minced garlic (or less is you don't like garlic)
Swansons Chicken Broth- size depends on how many you're feeding (32oz or 48oz)
Baby Carrots (amount of veggies it to your liking. all chopped to bite size)
Broccoli florets
Snap peas
mushrooms
green/red peppers
spinach leaves
Green onion, chopped
Sesame Oil
Mongolian Fire Oil- if you like it spicy. Joe uses it, I do not.
Directions:
Saute minced garlic in med/large pot. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add pot stickers and carrots and cook for 8 minutes. After 4 minutes, add the rest of the veggies, except for the spinach leaves and green onion. After the 8 minutes, add in the spinach leaves green onion and sesame oil to taste. Stir and serve. Add fire oil, if desired.

It's so easy, fast and scrumptious. I much prefer cooking recipes where I can see what the finish product looks like, but I dont have a picture. You'll just have to trust me that this soup is totally worth it.





 

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